Narcotics Tracking Lifecycle Explained

Introduction

Tracked narcotics in MedixSafe move through a predictable lifecycle: you choose what you stock, register vials in the system, program MedixSafe Smart Tags, follow them as they move between safes, review what happened in logs and reports, and finally retire items when they expire or leave service.

This article describes those phases at a high level. For programming Smart Tags at the safe, see How to Enroll Narcotics.

Lifecycle at a Glance

Select types → Create records → Enroll tags → Active tracking → Audit & review → Expire & archive

Phase	What you are doing	Status in MedixSafe
1 - Plan & select types	Choose narcotic products you will stock	Asset types (catalog)
2 - Create inventory	Register vials with type and expiry	Created
3 - Enroll tags	Program RFID tags at a safe	Enrolling → Active
4 - Track in the field	Safes report what is inside; items move between locations	Active (with current location)
5 - Audit & compliance	Review events, access, and history	Events tied to access
6 - End of life	Expired or retired vials leave active inventory	Archived (records retained)

Phase 1: Select Narcotic Types

Before adding vials, decide which narcotic types your organization uses. MedixSafe maintains an asset type catalog (product name, code, manufacturer, and related details).

Steps:

Select: Narcotics Management > Narcotics Types > Priority
Use Priority for types you program often, so bulk workflows stay fast.

This phase is planning only: nothing is on a MedixSafe Smart Tag yet.

Phase 2: Create Inventory Records

When you are ready to stock vials, create records in MedixSafe—one record per tracked vial (or per tag you will assign). You specify:

Narcotic type
Expiry date (for that batch or vial)
Quantity (when creating many identical lines at once)

New records start in the Created state. They exist in your inventory list but are not yet programmed on MedixSafe Smart Tags and are not visible to safes as tracked items until enrollment succeeds.

Keep in mind:

Use the same expiry for vials you intend to enroll in a single programming session (see the enrollment article).
Created items can be filtered and managed before you enroll—useful for staging a restock before tags are applied.

Phase 3: Enroll MedixSafe Smart Tags

Enrollment connects each Created record to a physical MedixSafe Smart Tag on a vial inside an online, RFID-capable safe.

During enrollment, status typically moves through Enrolling and then Active when programming completes. Items that do not finish may show timeout or failure states until an administrator corrects and retries.

For step-by-step enrollment (safe selection, quantity, placement, errors), use How to Enroll Narcotics—not repeated here.

Once Active, a vial is part of your tracked inventory and can be detected by safes that support narcotics tracking.

Phase 4: Track Narcotics Between Safes

After enrollment, tracking is largely automatic when safes with RFID inventory scan tags during access.

Where is a vial now?

Each active asset can have a current location, the safe (device) where it was last seen by inventory. The console inventory view and filters let you see what should be in a given safe.

Moving between safes

Movement is reflected when tags are removed from one safe’s inventory and added at another—for example:

Restocking a vehicle from headquarters
Transferring between stations
Temporary storage during a call or shift change

You do not manually “transfer” in the abstract; the system updates from what each safe reports when doors open and RFID scans run. If a vial left one safe but has not yet been scanned into another, its location is cleared (indicating it is not currently inside any safe) until the next successful read at another safe.

Operational expectations

Safes must be enabled, online (for live updates), and configured for narcotics tracking where applicable.
Groups affect which administrators can manage which safes and inventory—not the RFID read itself.
Large moves are easier when vials are placed and scanned in an organized way (see enrollment article placement guidance).

Phase 5: Audit Asset Events and Access

Accountability is built from asset events and access history, not only from “who has a key.”

Asset events

Over its life, a vial may accumulate events such as:

Created — record added in Link
Added — detected entering a safe’s inventory
Moved — detected leaving a safe (inventory removal)
Used, Wasted, Lost — disposition or exception events where your workflow records them

Together, these form a timeline for investigations and compliance.

Access history

Many inventory changes tie to a safe access (door open). MedixSafe can relate asset activity to who opened the safe, which device, and when—supporting chain-of-custody questions that go beyond “which tags moved.”

Use access logs, asset event views, and per-asset history (where available in your console) for audits, incident review, and shift handoffs.

Expiry awareness

Link tracks expiry dates on each asset. Administrators may receive digests or alerts for items that are expiring soon or already expired, depending on account notification settings. Treat these as prompts to pull, waste, or archive stock per policy—not as automatic removal from the safe.

Phase 6: Expiry and End of Life — Archive

When a vial reaches end of life (expired, administered, wasted, lost, or otherwise removed from service), you should close it out in MedixSafe so active inventory stays accurate.

Expiry

Each asset carries an expiry time used for lists, filters, and insight notifications.
Expired product should be handled per clinical and regulatory procedure physically first; then reflect that in MedixSafe.
Do not rely on the console alone to prevent use of expired medication at the safe—operational checks and safe behavior still matter.